EXCLUSIVE COLUMNIST Roberts on Blackburn, Cantwell, Sarge, Norwich travels.
If Todd Cantwell plays against Norwich for Blackburn this Saturday, I expect him to receive a mixed reception from the visiting fans.
When he was a little lad, I was requested to present Adam Idah with his debut shirt at Colney. Daniel Farke and Stuart Webber liked to ask ex-players to do it, and it was fantastic; I thoroughly enjoyed it. I was sitting in the canteen, and Todd was the first player to come out and shake my hand. Obviously, he was a big Norwich supporter, and he was great. It was wonderful that he appreciated what I’d done for the club, and I felt fair play – and things like that mean a lot to me. I chatted with Darren Huckerby about him, and he says, ‘Robbo, he’s got an outstanding engine; crank him up and he’ll run all day. He’s technically very, very good, he’s got good ability’.
He spent a term at Bournemouth, and there were reports that he and their manager at the time, Scott Parker, had a falling out on several occasions due to Todd’s negative attitude. But what I appreciate about him is that at the start of his career, he moved abroad to Fortuna Sittard in Holland, and I thought, well done to him. He could have joined a club in this country, but instead he moved abroad to play in a foreign country and language. He enjoyed his time there; I only wish he could have remained that Todd Cantwell for the following five years.
What sort of reception will the travelling Norwich fans give Todd Cantwell? (Image: PA Images)
I believe if Todd is fit enough to play against Norwich for the first time in his career, the reaction from the visiting fans will be mixed. He’s a local lad who has progressed through the system, one of their own from the Academy, and that’s what Norwich fans want to see. I hope he gets a favourable greeting; I believe it will do him a world of good and put many things to rest. Of all, following a good reception before the game, they have every right to do whatever they want to some extent. At the end of the day, if he’s fit, he wants to win the game for Blackburn and obviously with them four points in front of Norwich in that sixth place, a win at Ewood Park would be a massive result for Norwich.
Josh Sargent – on target at Hull (Image: Paul Chesterton/Focus Images Ltd)I have a stat about Josh Sargent which is probably me nit picking a little bit!
Only four players have scored more than he has this season. He’s played far fewer games – and scored 11 in 20 appearances, two of them off the bench.
But out of the 11 – and this is hypercritical I know – only two have come away from home.
But, and this is a positive spin on that: the two that he has scored have come in the last two away games – at Watford and Hull.
Before he scored the winner of Watford – and I know he hasn’t played every away game, he’s missed a big chunk – his last away goal was on April 9 at Sheffield Wednesday in a 2-2 draw.
Before this season 12 of his 31 league goals had come away from home – that record is now 14 away goals from a total of 42 – which is not too bad in all fairness.
Sometimes you get ‘homers’ – I’m not saying Sargent is a homer and with consecutive away goals scored, hopefully that’s the proof. If he goes to Blackburn and scores and makes it three in three, that would put that to bed.
Plus, he’s scored seven in his last six games now – as I’ve said before, what if he’d been fit all season? Would they be in the top six now? I think 100pc they would be. Would they be closer to the top two, top three – they’d be closer, but I don’t think they’d be threatening to break into that top three. But 100pc they’d be slightly higher with more points than what they’ve got now.
The second of his goals in Saturday’s 4-2 win over Stoke was a magnificent strike from a centre forward. Should the keeper have done better? If you’re the keeper and you get your fingertips to it, I’m thinking maybe. But it was a great bit of awareness. It shows you a striker with confidence. But I probably enjoyed the first one more than the second one.
There’s a few ricochets, a few bodies around him, but all of a sudden, he’s seen where the ball is, he’s turned and he’s finished it. And that’s how it’s going. You get periods in a season as a forward where things land for you.
As a forward, when you’re in a purple patch, things like that fall to you. If you’re going through a bit of a drought and you can’t buy a goal, you’ve not scored in five or six, you don’t get that chance. But because he’s in the form of his life, everything he touches is turning to gold.
Travel sickness
Elland Road in January – another bad away day (Image: Matt Wilkinson/Focus Images Ltd)
My problem with Norwich is that they have lost half of their away games, eight out of seventeen. Everyone talks about the goals they’ve scored at home, yet they’ve only scored 14 in 17 away games. That is not good enough. They have scored 24 fewer goals away from home than at Carrow Road. Now that is a problem. They will be aware that, more than anybody else, they will be considering all possible outcomes. The second worrying fact is that 17 of their 47 points have come away from home. That’s a significant difference. In an ideal scenario, you should earn more points at home than away from home – but almost double? This needs to be addressed from now until May.
Blackburn has won 10 of its 17 home games, keeping eight clean sheets. Only the top four have conceded fewer goals, indicating a strong defensive performance. They allowed three goals at Swansea last Saturday, their first in a league game since October 1. I have to give credit to Alan Sheehan, Swansea’s caretaker manager; I haven’t seen Swansea play with that much passion and intensity in a long time. He decided with an old-school 4-4-2 formation, and they went for it. As an aside, I know Blackburn caretaker David Lowe quite well. He’s been there since 2011 and I think he’s done every job at the football club. He’s been there with numerous managers and he’s a good lad.
I played with him at Leicester, and while he was not a prolific goal scorer, one game stood out. We travelled to Villa Park; Brian Little had just left us, and Mark McGhee was our manager. This was in the Premier League, and we fell behind 4-0 after roughly 30 minutes, but we rallied to draw 4-4. David grabbed two of them, I got one, and Mark Robins got the other. He’s a really hard-working coach, but I don’t think he wants the job full-time. It raises the question of what caused John Eustace to resign his post as a club manager. that was in the top six to go to Derby, who are absolutely fighting for their lives.
You talk about owners and I’m not going to slag Blackburn’s owners because I don’t know them, but word is he wasn’t pleased with the lack of investment in January.
Cracking stuff!
It was a fantastic outcome – I’d seen Stoke the previous two weeks, and I felt they were excellent in the second half against Swansea, despite going behind. Mark Robins was ecstatic with their performances in a 3-1 home victory. Norwich scored four goals, but they could have had more. They still conceded two, which bothers me. It’s terrific when you’re scoring as many as they are – only Leeds has scored more home goals than Norwich – but they must be more difficult to score against. That is my only actual concern. I was impressed by Lewis Dobbin, who scored his second goal in seven games against Stoke. I did have a concern about him- he went on loan from Aston Villa to West Brom, who were one of the favourites to be there or thereabouts, but just drew too many games. When you’re a forward and you go there and your job is to create and to score, to not get a goal in 17 appearances left a question mark on him for me. But from what I’ve seen, I’ve been really impressed. I was impressed when I saw him down there against Swansea, when he scored. He looks bright, he looks lively. When you’ve got the likes of Borja Sainz coming back people thought he’d be the one to make way, but he was switched to the right, where he will have competition from Matej Jurasek.
He’s one of those players who has made it difficult for the manager to replace. He’s on the team, he’s doing well, he’s scoring goals, he searches for threats, he appears confident, and they’re obviously getting the most out of him. He’ll compete with Jurasek, but a fit squad is essential, especially as the season progresses. Obviously, I’m looking a little farther ahead, but you have the Easter period, which is perhaps the second most important phase of the season, with games coming thick and fast. I have always thought that Christmas is important, but is it the end of the world if you get a negative result? Possibly not, because at least you’ve got four months to get over that. If you lose your two games over Easter you haven’t got a lot of time to get over it.
There’s a lot of games to go, lots of points to play for and they have a real chance.
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